Nearly 100 000 candidates will write their National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams in the Western Cape this month – a much larger group than would ordinarily write during the November session.
Matric exams officially kick off on Thursday, November 5 and conclude in mid-November. According to the Minister of Education Western Cape, Debbie Schäfer, 95 427 learners will write their NSC exams, compared to 64 465 for the same session last year.
“The reason for this increase is that the May/June 2020 exam session could not take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and was instead combined with the November session,” explains Scäfer in a statement.
“Of candidates writing this month, 54 741 are full-time matric learners. 10 544 part-time/repeat candidates, and 19 286 May/June Senior Certificate candidates will write in this session, as well as 10 856 learners who were due to write supplementary exams this year following the 2019 NSC exams.”
During this year’s NSC exams, 137 exam papers will be written across 512 exam centres in the Western Cape, and 2 540 community members have been appointed as invigilators.
The subject with the largest number of candidates is Mathematical Literacy, with 56 754 students scheduled to write Paper 1 and 2 in mid-November.
Eight subjects have just one candidate: Equine Studies, Latin Second Additional Language, Modern Greek Second Additional Language, IsiNdebele Home Language, Setswana First Additional Language, Sport and Exercise Science, UNISA Practical Music Grade 7, and Urdu First Additional Language.
There will be 2 964 markers marking one-million exam scripts. The main marking period is January 5 – 21, 2021 and the national minister is expected to announce the results on February 22, 2021.
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